The Artist as Entrepreneur

September 21 2017 , by Laura Pike

A professional development forum for emerging and mid career artists in partnership with Print Council of Australia.

This event brings together local experts to discuss artists' experiences, career paths, opportunities and creative entrepreneurship. The forum will be an exploration of new ideas, industry trends and opportunities to generate a real commitment to ongoing learning and artistic development for artists. It aims to enhance artists’ capacity to promote their work to a broader audience, understand their rights as artists and develop new skills and knowledge.

Facilitated by NAVA's Acting Co-Executive Director, Brianna Munting, speakers include Abi Crompton (Third Drawer Down), Carla McCrae (Artist), Nikki Lam (Artist & Curator) & Kyoko Imazu (Artist), providing insight into their careers and experiences of creative practice in Australia, followed by participatory discussion with the audience.

This event is a partnership between NAVA And Print Council of Australia and supported by City of Yarra.

The Artist as Entrepreneur was held on Thursday 21 September, at the Print Council of Australia, Fitzroy Town Hall.

Book your tickets via Eventbrite, and more updates available on Facebook.

Speakers

Abigail Crompton is “a visionary soul” who has proven herself in the global evolution of business by establishing long-term creative partnerships, which have enriched global communities in the cultural retail sector.

Abigail’s strengths include a professional and personal commitment and respect of the artist and this has provided her with the trusted ability to represent them and ultimately to extend the artist’s story in a sensitive yet commercial manner. Her collaborations exceed more than 150 worlds most celebrated and significant artists in the world such as Louise Bourgeois, Yayoi Kusama, Ai Weiwei, Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons.

Combined with her Fine Art education and natural curiosity, consistent enthusiasm, resourcefulness and her astute sense of humour, Abigail has created a wealth of extensive, highly respected and innovative products for the local and international cultural market.

Kyoko Imazu is a Melbourne based Japanese artist whose practice encompasses a range of mediums such as printmaking, puppetry and installation, bookbinding and ceramics.

Her visual art works are held in collections at National Library of Australia, State Library of Queensland, State Library of Victoria, National Gallery of Australia, Melbourne Athenaeum Library, RMIT, Sydney College of Arts and numerous private collections worldwide. She regularly exhibits her work nationally and internationally especially in Hong Kong, New Zealand, New York and Japan.

Nikki Lam is a visual artist and curator based in Melbourne. From video and installation, to writing and performance, Nikki's practice engages in the complexity of belonging through the exploration of self, memory and space. Working primarily with the moving image, she is also passionate about the cross-sections of screen cultures, media arts and representations of narratives and histories. Born in Hong Kong (1988), she is interested in exploring the translations of post-colonial identities and narratives in the hybrid world, often through the studies of rituals, language and their visual representations. She is the former Artistic Director of Channels Festival (2014-2016) and has worked in a range of arts organisations including Footscray Community Arts Centre, Peril Magazine and Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT). She is currently working at Australian Centre for Moving Images (ACMI) coordinating their industry-focused ACMI X initiative.

Carla McRae is a Melbourne-based illustrator. Growing up on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, she spent her childhood hunching over a sketchbook, obsessing over cartoons and culture. Not too much has changed since.

Carla’s drawings pull together a blank space with crisp lines, geometric shapes, strong colour and characters. Wielding a pencil, marker or paint brush at any time, her background in design has informed her preference for clean, simplistic image-making. Her work depicts small, open narratives and stories about characters and their worlds. Her characters are strong, independent and busy exploring the spaces they occupy, or enjoying the beauty of small gestures and quieter moments.

When she’s not working on freelance projects, Carla is the designer for Australian sock company, Odd Pears. She also exhibits her work, self-publishes and loves a nice warm day painting a big wall in the sun.